Down To Business or Something

Time I gifted my thoughts and words to my few and dear blogosphere followers once again; far past time in fact. If I've neglected you, I did so meekly, keeping you in my thoughts, wondering what to write . And if I have tried your patience, know I consider your strain a complement, and apologize while smiling to myself. So thank you. And sorry.

Still, few noteworthy things have happened since water melon picking. I finished The Language Instinct finally, after putting it down for long spells, and reading two books in between. It gets pretty technical about halfway through, and one really must concentrate to enjoy it, and it's very enjoyable, so worth the effort.

I've just started The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs. And interestingly it's forward is by Bono. The eloquence  that penned such lines as "You make me feel like I can fly --- so high," comes through just as profound at times like "Equality is a very big idea, connected to freedom, an idea that doesn't come for free." But for the most part, it's alright.

The book is about what it might look like to begin to end extreme poverty. He starts with the fact that 8 million people die a year from being extremely poor. Within the first few pages we find  him in a small typical Malawi village, full of and exhausted old women and children starving and dying from malaria . What few agriculture tricks are available to coax the dry, dusty soil into growing a few things to eat are irrelevant, because the majority of able bodied men have already succumb to the AIDs epidemic. And soon the author, one of the world's most prominent economists, is explaining what can be done and why. He claims, at least he claimed at the time the book was published in 2005, that extreme poverty could be ended by 2025, if the right steps were taken. He also points out that terrorism is largely possible because terrorist organizations have highly instable countries in which to establish themselves. Fighting poverty, according to Mr. Sachs, also is a cheaper and morally superior way of eliminating terrorism (be moral because it's practical! uhg). And I’ll have to leave it at that, because, like I said, I've just started it.

The language is still coming, slowly but surely. I practice every day. I was always really bad at languages in school, and in our trainings I struggled in class as well. But studying alone goes alright for me. I think being an incorrigible introvert is my major obstacle here. Rather than drawing from the energy of the group, from the collective challenge, and the friendly competition of the classroom, I inevitably shrink from it, glaring at it from the corner, finding the whole endeavor all very exhausting.